Known methods for obtaining low temperature flexibility in the normally crystalline vinylidene chloride polymers include: polymerization with other monomers; the addition thereto of relatively small molecules as plasticizers; and mixing the vinylidene chloride polymer with an elastomer, e.g., admixing a vinylidene chloride polymer, in latex form, with a rubbery interpolymer latex, followed by coagulation of the mix, e.g., as disclosed in Canadian Pat. No. 732,668. Such prior methods have not provided, however, shaped articles, e.g., compression molded films, which are clear and homogeneous to the eye, which have the same high crystalline melting point as the starting vinylidene chloride polymer, which exhibit lowered glass transition temperatures and improved low temperature (and room temperature) flexibility as compared to the starting vinylidene chloride polymer, while maintaining to a large degree the excellent barrier properties of the starting vinylidene chloride polymer.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a process for producing compositions from which articles having such a desirable combination of properties may be thermally fabricated.